Broadcast Deadlines: February 1, 2021 Radio License Renewal Applications Due – Applications for renewal of license for radio stations located in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma must be filed in the Licensing and Management System (“LMS”). These applications must be accompanied by Schedule 396, the Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Program Report, also filed in LMS, … Continue Reading
December 1, 2020 Radio License Renewal Applications Due – Applications for renewal of license for radio stations located in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota must be filed in the Licensing and Management System (LMS). These applications must be accompanied by Schedule 396, the Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program Report, also filed … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: October 1, 2020 Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent Election Deadline – By October 1, all full power and Class A commercial TV stations must upload their must-carry/retransmission consent elections for the 2021-2023 election cycle to their online public inspection files. Stations are now required to send copies of their elections to MVPDs and to the FCC … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: April 1, 2020 Radio and Television License Renewal Pre-Filing Announcements – Radio stations licensed in Michigan and Ohio, as well as TV stations licensed in Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, must begin broadcasts of their pre-filing announcements concerning their applications for a license renewal. These announcements must be continued on April … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: March 9, 2020 All-Digital AM Broadcasting – Comments are due in response to the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC” or the “Commission”) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking input on a proposal to allow AM broadcasters to broadcast an all-digital signal using the HD Radio in-band on-channel (IBOC) mode known as MA3.… Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: January 31, 2020 Biennial Ownership Reports – All licensees and entities holding an attributable interest in a licensee of one or more AM, FM, TV, Class A television, and/or Low Power TV (LPTV) stations must file a biennial ownership report reflecting information as of October 1, 2019. Please recall that not only corporations … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: December 1, 2019 License Renewal Pre-Filing Announcements – Radio stations licensed in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi must begin broadcasts of their pre-filing announcements with regard to their applications for renewal of the license. These announcements must be continued on December 16, January 1, and January 16.… Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: October 30, 2019 Closed Captioning – Reply Comments due in response to the FCC’s Public Notice (CG Docket 05-231, DA-19-776A1) requesting comments on a Petition for Declaratory Ruling and/or Rulemaking on Live Closed Captioning Quality Metrics and the Use of Automatic Speech Recognition Technologies by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: October 1, 2019 License Renewal Applications Due – Applications for renewal of license for radio stations located in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands must be filed in the Commission’s Licensing and Management System (LMS). These applications must be accompanied by Schedule 396, the Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program Report, also … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: September 16, 2019 Children’s TV Programming – Support for E/I Programs on Other Stations – Comments are due in response to the FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which seeks to further revise the children’s television programming rules and policies to establish standards that would give broadcasters greater flexibility to meet their obligation … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: August 1, 2019: License Renewal Pre-Filing Announcements – Radio stations located in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands must begin broadcasts of their pre-filing announcements with regard to their applications for renewal of the license. These announcements must be continued on August 16, September 1, and September 16.… Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: July 3, 2019: Emergency Alert System National Test – Participants’ EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) Form One Due – In preparation for this year’s national EAS test on August 7 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, all EAS participants must file ETRS Form One, which sets forth the EAS equipment that the participant has and … Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: June 1, 2019: License Renewal Pre-Filing Announcements – Radio stations located in North Carolina and South Carolina must begin broadcasts of their pre-filing announcements with regard to their applications for renewal of the license. These announcements must be continued on June 16, July 1, and July 16.… Continue Reading
Broadcast Deadlines: April 29, 2019: Quadrennial Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules – Comments are due with regard to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (MB Docket 18-349, FCC-18-179A1) which initiated the required 2018 Quadrennial Review of broadcast ownership rules.… Continue Reading
With FCC license renewals fast-approaching and public inspection files now all on line, it is time to seriously review and assess your FCC EEO compliance (….that is before the FCC does it for you!). In collaboration with the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the New Jersey Broadcasters Association, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth’s Dawn King, Anne Crump, … Continue Reading
With the whirl of the holiday season upon us, most broadcasters rightly thought they could put off looking ahead to the next license renewal cycle until 2019. Au contraire, says the FCC, which began sending out blast emails to certain radio licensees on December 6, warning that FCC internal audits have revealed that many stations’ … Continue Reading
A shut-down of the federal government as of 12:01 a.m. on October 1 could have a disastrous impact on non-broadcast licensees whose licenses are expiring after 11:59 p.m. on September 30.… Continue Reading
The Commission has posted its plans for an "orderly" shutdown of operations in the event the government closes tonight because of the budget impasse.… Continue Reading
With a governmental shut-down looking more likely, we remind licensees of the importance of getting renewal applications in for any licenses that are set to expire soon.… Continue Reading
With a possible government shut-down fast approaching, folks with licenses currently set to expire in the weeks following March 4 may want to take steps to protect their continued authority to operate.… Continue Reading
